How to add or remove icons in Windows Control Panel
The Control Panel is one of the most important parts of your Microsoft Windows system. If you'd like to customize which icons appear in your Control Panel, continue reading for suggested methods.
If you're running Windows Me, XP or later, we recommend that you do not customize your Control Panel icons. Instead, we suggest that Control Panel be configured to show icons in Classic View, see: Unable to find icons in Windows Control Panel.
TweakUI
Microsoft Windows XP and later revisions of Windows users can enable and remove Control Panel icons with the TweakUI program.
After TweakUI has been installed, check and uncheck the icons you want or do not want to display in the Windows Control Panel under the Control Panel section.
Adding Control Panel icons
Users can add a Windows Control Panel icon by installing the program or hardware device related to the icon. If doing this does not install an icon into the Windows Control Panel that is either listed in the below chart or has been present in the past, follow the steps below.
- Reinstall the program or hardware device associated with the program. During reinstallation, the necessary .CPL file is copied back onto the computer.
- Manually copy, expand, and extract the .cpl file back into the Windows System or System 32 directory.
Unless your program or hardware device has a .cpl file associated with it, the program will not create an icon in your Control Panel.
Manually running a Windows Control Panel .cpl file
If you are unfamiliar with what each .CPL file does, try one of the following suggestions.
- Manually execute many of the .CPL files by typing control <name of .cpl file>.cpl. See the control command page for additional information and help with this command.
- Users can also use the rundll32 file to open the Control Panel icons. Below is an example of how a user would open the Date/Time Properties window using the rundll32 file. To run an alternate .cpl file, replace the TimeDate.cpl with a different .cpl file.
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL TimeDate.cpl
Hiding Control Panel icons
To hide an icon from being displayed in the Control Panel, delete or move the icon as explained in the steps below, or hide the icon by editing the control.ini file.
Removing Control Panel icons
Using the Microsoft find utility, locate all .cpl files on your computer.
Once all the .cpl files are found, locate the file associated with your icon and delete the file or move it to an alternate location.
Files associated with Control Panel icons
Below is a small chart of the available files and their associated Control Panel icons. Note that not all of the files or icons below are available in all versions of Microsoft Windows. They may be missing because the associated hardware device, program, or other setting is not installed. Icons that have an asterisk in the availability section indicate that third-party software must be installed before the icon is displayed.
| Control Panel Icon | Associated file | 95/98/ME | NT | 2000/XP | Vista/7/8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC3 Filter | ac3filter.cpl | | | * | |
| Accessibility Options |
access.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Add/Remove Hardware | hdwwiz.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Add/Remove Programs |
appwiz.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Adobe Gamma | adobe gamma.cpl | * | * | * | |
| Automatic Updates | wuaucpl.cpl | | | Yes | |
| MS-DOS Console |
console.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Date/Time |
timedate.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DirectX | directx.cpl | | | * | |
| Display |
desk.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fax | fax.cpl | Yes | Yes | | |
| findfast.cpl |
Yes | Yes | |||
| Firewall | firewall.cpl | | | Yes | Yes |
| main.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| GSNW |
nwc.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Intel Pro Set |
proset.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Internet properties |
intelcpl.cpl |
Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Infrared Settings properties | irprops.cpl | Yes | | ||
| Java Control Panel | jpicpl32.cpl | * | | ||
| Java Plugin x.x.x - This icon and its associated file changes by version. | plugincplx_x.cpl | * | * | * | * |
| Joystick Properties or Game Controllers. | joy.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Licensing |
liccpa.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Macfile |
sfmmgr.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Mail and Fax |
mlcfg32.cpl |
Yes | |||
| Microsoft Mail Post Office | wgpocpl.cpl | Yes | |||
| modem.cpl |
Yes | Yes | |||
| Multimedia / Sounds | mmsys.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Network Connections properties | ncpa.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Network Properties | netcpl.cpl | Yes | |||
| Nview Desktop Manager | nvtuicpl.cpl | | * | ||
| ODBC32 | odbc32.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Passwords | password.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| PCCard | devapps.cpl | Yes | |||
| Ports | ports.cpl | Yes | |||
| Power Options properties | powercfg.cpl | Yes | Yes | ||
| QuickTime | quicktime.cpl | * | * | * | |
| Regional Settings | intl.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scanners and Cameras | sticpl.cpl | | | Yes | |
| Security Center | wscui.cpl | | Yes | Yes | |
| Services and Devices | srvmgr.cpl | Yes | |||
| SCSI Adapters | devapps.cpl | Yes | |||
| Server | srvmgr.cpl | Yes | |||
| Speech Properties | sapi.cpl | Yes | | ||
| System Properties | sysdm.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Tape Devices | devapps.cpl | Yes | |||
| Telephony or Phone and Modem Options Properties. | telephon.cpl | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| TweakUI | tweakui.cpl | * | * | * | |
| UPS | ups.cpl | Yes | |||
| User Accounts properties | nusrmgr.cpl | Yes | | ||
| VirusScan | avsmcpa.cpl | * | * | * | * |
Microsoft Windows stores information about each of the icons that are shown in the Control Panel in files with the .CPL extension. If these files are present and not corrupted, Microsoft Windows displays these icons, otherwise, these icons will not be visible. The Control Panel files can be in the C:\Windows\System, C:\Windows\System32, or C:\Winnt\system32 folders once new hardware or software is installed.